The U.S. men were supposed to
dominate in Rio. Instead, they were a missed three-pointer away from going to
overtime against Serbia. They survived, 97-94.

The United States nearly suffered
a disastrous loss to Serbia on Friday, but survived with a 94-91 win based on a
little bit of luck and some strong early play from their frontcourt.

With wing players like Kevin
Durant, Paul George and Klay Thompson on the roster, the United States was not
expected to struggle defending wing players. That’s exactly what has happened
over their last two games in Rio. There have been botched switches all over the
perimeter, and nearly all of the United States’ wings and guards showed a
shocking inability to get around screens.

These issues were best
demonstrated on the final play of the game, when the U.S. left Serbian
sharpshooter Bogdan Bogdanovic wide-open for a three-pointer that would’ve sent
the game to overtime. The cliche is that it’s better to be lucky than good, and
on the final play the U.S. was undoubtedly the former in escaping with a win.

The U.S. allowed this look for the tie from the best
shooter on Serbia. Thankfully, it missed and they survived. pic.twitter.com/GgWOoZ6NDm

It wasn’t only wide open jumpers
the U.S. was allowing. Serbia’s shot chart demonstrates just how easy it was
for them to get into the paint due to the United States’ lackadaisical defense:

They got away with one, but two
close games have made one thing clear: If the United States continues to be
plagued with leaks, it could be their biggest obstacle to winning a gold medal
in a single elimination tournament, where anything can happen.

The beginning of the game looked
like a Team USA rout, and DeMarcus Cousins got things started. Boogie is far
from just a typical plodding back-to-the-basket player, and he got a chance to
show off his versatility with a spin move in transition to score and dunk.

Serbia answered the United
States’ one-two punch with a literal punch of their own, right to DeAndre
Jordan’s groin. Miroslav Raduljica delivered the blow to the area announcer
Doug Collins charitably described as DJ’s “midsection.” He followed it up by
pushing Jordan in mid-air on a dangerous play a few possessions later. This
incensed Jordan, who picked up a technical foul following the play.

Jordan came out of the game to
recompose himself, and picked up where he left off with an easy bucket on deep
paint position upon re-entering. Still, some sloppy defense by the United
States and going away from their big men was enough for Serbia to only trail
50-41 at the half.

But instead of pushing ahead in
the second half, Team USA allowed the Serbians to continue to hang around
because of leaky defense. Nuggets center Nikola Jokic went off, finishing with
25 points, six rebounds and a whopping +27 in plus-minus. Serbia cut the lead
to five down the stretch and then further down to three in the closing minutes.
They had a chance to tie the game after George air-balled a floater, and they
nearly forced overtime.

Team USA was supposed to dominate
this tournament. Instead, they’ve fought with Australia through a tight game
and now nearly lost to Serbia. This appears to be a much tougher tournament
than anyone expected.

3 other things we learned

Team USA’s perimeter defense
is a huge problem

The Americans have plenty of good
individual defenders, so why have they allowed a combined 182 points in their
last two games to Australia and Serbia? It’s strange. They’ve fallen asleep
with both teams’ off-ball movement and have let small guards (Patty Mills on
Wednesday, Milos Teodosic on Friday) get open look after open look. Mike
Krzyzewski and Tom Thibodeau need to coax more effort out of Team USA’s
perimeter defenders, and fast.

Nikola Jokic
introduces himself on the international stage

The Denver Nuggets don’t play on
national TV a lot, so Jokic isn’t quite a household name just yet. That will
change if the sophomore center continues to display the level of play he
flashed against the Americans on Friday.

All of Jokic’s strengths were on
full display. He was setting teeth-rattling screens on the perimeter, followed
by endless rolls to the rim. Jokic was able to catch and finish with soft hands
and a variety of shots once there, and he even displayed some unexpected range
when knocking down a three-pointer from the top of the arc.

Everyone loves Milos
Teodosic, except Team USA

Jokic wasn’t the only player to
introduce himself to a wider audience against the United States. Teodosic has
never played in the NBA, but he dazzled U.S. viewers on Friday with his
unselfish, flashy passing.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound
like the 29-year-old is going to be coming stateside anytime soon:

For the Teodosic-to-NBA lovers, I LOVE IT TOO, but he’s
under $2.5 million contract with CSKA, no outs. Damn.